THE TOTAL OF 125 MILLION DINARS FOR PRESEVO

16. February 2011.

Presevo, February 16, 2011 - On the occasion of visiting Presevo, Milan Markovic, Minister for Public Administration and Local Self-Government and President of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja said that in 2011 up to 104 million dinars would be earmarked in the Coordination Body’s budget for the municipality of Presevo. He also said that distribution of funds had been agreed with the municipal leaders for the purpose of providing assistance to all the citizens, regardless of their ethnic background.

Following the meeting with Ragmi Mustafa, President of the Municipality of Presevo, and with Perisa Simonovic, Sate Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Milan Markovic said for the press that Presevo would also get the additional 21 million dinars.

Minister Markovic stated that the said funds were earmarked partly in the Coordination Body’s budget, and partly in the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government’s budget.
According to Minister Markovic, last year’s cooperation between the management of the municipality of Presevo and the Coordination Body was very good, while a proper level of trust and understanding was established, too.

"Extremely important tasks are awaiting us, since the municipality of Presevo is beset by numerous problems, which are, first and foremost, economic problems, unemployment and poverty, “said Milan Markovic.
Minister Markovic also said that there are problems in Presevo that are specific for the southern Serbian municipalities, which, mostly, refer to education. He pointed out that the Coordination Body, along with the Ministry of Education, would do everything within its power to solve them.

Minister Markovic voiced hope that 2011 would be characterized by resolving the issue of an outpatient maternity hospital in Presevo and pointed out that the health issue burdened the municipality’s political situation, too.

"We have ambitions plans for 2011 and if we are persistent, wise and moderate in our statements, I believe that we will manage to do a lot of good things for the citizens of Presevo”, Minister Markovic said.

The President of the Municipality of Presevo said that the municipality was satisfied with the amount of money that would be assigned to it, as well as that it would be looking for the possibility of getting additional development funds, which would be used for the infrastructure, without which there is no economic development. Mr. Mustafa pointed out that the needs of Presevo were greater than the available investment funds, which amount to around 1 million euro. He also said that the issue of providing information in Albanian had been resolved in the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja the year before. He underscored that there were still huge problems in the field of education.

"We are going to resolve the health issue this year by adjusting a part of the Health Center for the needs of a maternity ward, Mr. Mustafa said. He added that something that contributed to an improvement in the quality of living of residents of those three municipalities had been done every year of the previous decade.